If you ask me a few places in the world evoke such strong Africa associations as Kenya does. From the lush, palm fringed ocean coastline of the Indian Ocean to the hot, wild deserts. Kenya is truly a travelers dream come true.
But I guess Im not the only one! Meet Lucy, also an Africa Lover who volunteered 7 month in Diani Beach and actively contributed with her time to the local community.
My name is Lucy, born and raised in Norway and soon to be 28 years old. That means it’s probably been about 22 years since I fell in love with Africa – when The Lion King came out. I didn’t set foot on the continent until the age of 23 however, but since then, I haven’t stopped doing exactly that.
After visiting most of the countries in southern Africa on numerous holidays and wildlife volunteering trips, I found myself arriving in Kenya with a one-way ticket. I had booked 4 weeks of volunteering with Volker Bassen and The East African Whale Shark Trust with the idea of working my way down towards Cape Town after this.
I believe it took me two days to realize that I had surely arrived in paradise and that I didn’t want to leave.
7 months later, I was still in Diani as Volker kept me on as Team Leader for the volunteers!
The best experience was by far when I saw my first whale shark, closely followed by snorkling alongside curious dolphins and all the fantastic dives at the reefs. The knowledge I’ve collected during those months are invaluable and it’s such a blessing to get to show this to all of the new volunteers with no idea of what to expect.
Besides our projects for marine conservation, we have also been working hard to contribute to the local communities in various ways. By that I mean botj regarding education as well as dealing with serious health issues, such as bedbugs at an orphanage, treating children with jiggers in their feet which is so severe that they can hardly walk at all, a shoe program to prevent further jigger infections and now, soon to be working with menstrual cups, something that will make a massive difference in the lives of African girls and women.
Treating the children with jiggers in their feet
All in all, life in Diani is beautiful and it really does seem to be paradise on earth, but the feeling of being a part of something bigger makes this an experience everyone should have with them. We keep pushing ourselves to make the volunteering project better, more resourceful and more knowledgable every day and we want more volunteers to join us in our work!
Our Facebook page: http://facebook.com/kenyavolunteers